Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Muddy Waters
A brief biography of Muddy Waters, American blues guitarist and singer who became famous in the post-World War II era.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: Usher
Learn about the life and career of Usher, the American musician whose smooth vocals and sensual ballads helped establish him as a rhythm-and-blues superstar beginning in the late 1990s.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Bessie Smith
Biographical details on American singer, Bessie Smith, one of the greatest of blues vocalists.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Louis Jordan
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Louis Jordan, an American saxophonist-singer prominent in the 1940s and '50s who was a seminal figure in the development of both rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The bouncing, rhythmic...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Michael S. Harper
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Michael S. Harper, an African-American poet whose sensitive, personal verse is concerned with ancestral kinship, jazz and the blues, and the separation of the races in America.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Albert King
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Albert King, an American blues musician who created a unique string-bending guitar style that influenced three generations of musicians.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Clyde Mc Phatter
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Clyde McPhatter, an American rhythm-and-blues singer popular in the 1950s whose emotional style anticipated soul music.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Etta Baker
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Etta Baker, an American folk musician who influenced the folk music revival of the 1950s and '60s with her mastery of East Coast Piedmont blues, a unique fingerpicking style of...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Gene Ammons
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Gene Ammons, an American jazz tenor saxophonist, noted for his big sound and blues-inflected, "soulful" improvising.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Willie Dixon
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Willie Dixon, an American blues musician who, as record producer, bassist, and prolific songwriter, exerted a major influence on the post-World War II Chicago style.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Ike Turner
Biographical account of Ike Turner, the American rhythm-and-blues and soul performer, and producer who was best known for his work with Tina Turner.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Little Brother Montgomery
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Little Brother Montgomery, a major African-American blues artist who was also an outstanding jazz pianist and vocalist. He cowrote "The Forty-Fours," a complex composition for piano that...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Teddy Pendergrass
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Teddy Pendergrass, an American rhythm-and-blues singer who embodied the smooth, Philly soul sound of the 1970s as lead vocalist for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes before embarking on a...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: R. Kelly
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features R. Kelly, an American singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who became one of the best-selling rhythm-and-blues (R&B) artists of the 1990s and early 21st century....
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jackie Wilson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jackie Wilson, an American singer who was a pioneering exponent of the fusion of 1950s doo-wop, rock, and blues styles into the soul music of the 1960s.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jimmy Reed
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jimmy Reed, an American singer, harmonica player, and guitarist who was one of the most popular blues musicians of the post-World War II era.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Jimmy Yancey
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jimmy Yancey, an American blues pianist who established the boogie-woogie style with slow, steady, simple left-hand bass patterns. These became more rapid in the work of his students...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Lou Rawls
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lou Rawls, an American singer whose smooth baritone adapted easily to jazz, soul, gospel, and rhythm and blues.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Mississippi John Hurt
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Mississippi John Hurt, an American country-blues singer and guitarist who first recorded in the late 1920s but whose greatest fame and influence came when he was rediscovered in the early...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Professor Longhair
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Professor Longhair, an American singer and pianist who helped shape the sound of New Orleans rhythm and blues from the mid-1940s.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Redd Foxx
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Redd Foxx, an American comedian and television actor known for his raunchy stand-up routines. His style of comedy, often described as "blue" for its foul language and highly adult subject...
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Sammy Price
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Sammy Price, an American pianist and bandleader, a jazz musician rooted in the old rhythm and blues and boogie-woogie traditions who had a long career as a soloist and accompanist.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Sonny Boy Williamson
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Sonny Boy Williamson, an American blues vocalist and the first influential harmonica virtuoso, a self-taught player who developed several technical innovations on his instrument.
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Encyclopedia Britannica: Sonny Terry
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Sonny Terry, an American blues singer and harmonica player who became the touring and recording partner of guitarist Brownie McGhee in 1941.